Blackpool Council have revealed plans for the annual illuminations switch-on event, which will once again be held at the Tower Festival Headland venue. Unlike last year, the main switch-on event will be totally free; however, to compensate, two further shows are scheduled to take place over the same weekend. This is almost certain to cause mayhem on the promenade, and particularly for the tramway which always suffers when such events are held at this controversial venue.<\/p>\n
Last year, two concerts were held to celebrate the illuminations being switched-on, with tickets for both being sold, and neither was hugely successful. With this in mind it was hoped that the powers would be would have put the many people who have no interest in such events first and keep disruption to a minimum for the 2014 ceremony, but in fact the opposite has happened and this year there will be three evenings of musical entertainment. The actual switch-on event on Friday 29th August will be free, but further shows on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August will not. The former is being billed as a ‘West End Musicals Night’, whilst Sunday’s concert is being headlined by X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson, with a supporting cast of pop acts from ITV2’s ‘The Big Reunion’, including Liberty X and Atomic Kitten.<\/p>\n
Due to the close proximity of this site to the tram tracks, to accommodate extra seating the normal procedure is to close off the tramway along the adjacent section of promenade, leaving the trams to operate a split service. Trams from Starr Gate terminate somewhere between Manchester Square and Tower, with passengers travelling further north then having to walk to North Pier to continue their journey. Unless Blackpool Council have some tricks up their sleeves for 2014, this unpopular practice looks set to return for the first three evenings of this year’s illuminations, which once again shows complete and utter contempt for regular tram passengers who have no interest in watching pop stars. The heritage service will also face disruption, with no illumination tours likely to run for the first weekend of the lights, which was once a lucrative time for these tours.<\/p>\n
It seems that lessons have not been learned from last year’s heavily criticised attempt at cashing in on the illuminations switch-on weekend, and although the free event on the Friday night is a positive step (albeit one that is going back to what happened before 2013!), the expansion of the weekend from two days to three\u00a0is very disappointing. It remains to be seen whether these events will be better supported than they were in 2013, although as last year’s headline artists were much more well known and still failed to shift tickets, it is difficult to understand the thinking behind creating so much potential\u00a0misery for local residents and tourists alike.<\/p>\n
Details of the tram service that will operate on the weekend of 29th – 31st August will be posted here on British Trams Online<\/em>\u00a0 once confirmed by Blackpool Transport, so anyone planning to visit at this time is advised to keep checking back for further information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blackpool Council have revealed plans for the annual illuminations switch-on event, which will once again be held at the Tower Festival Headland venue. Unlike last year, the main switch-on event will be totally free; however, to compensate, two further shows … Continue reading